The Aether, The Soul's Covering, & How Saints Hear Prayers - St. Theophan the Recluse

Описание: St. Theophan discusses the aether, the way our prayers reach God, Saints, and Angels, the covering of our souls, and how to live life according to the Spirit. A reading of letters 13, 14, and 15 from The Spiritual Life And How to Be Attuned to It.

0:00 Beginning
0:15 Letter 13: Aether, True Happiness, Soul's Covering
11:19 Letter 14: The Covering of the Soul
17:36 Letter 15: How Saints Hear Our Prayers, Aether, Prayer From the Heart

📖 The Spiritual Life And How to Be Attuned to It by St. Theophan the Recluse
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🎧 Excerpt from "Creation, Early Man, & Evolution" - St. Theophan the Recluse
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St. Theophan wrote:

In case you have not forgotten, at one time I began talking with you about an exceedingly subtle element that is finer than light. It is called ether. Let us suppose that it exists as a matter of fact, and not just in name. I recognize that such a very subtle element exists, and that it penetrates and passes everywhere, serving as the smallest particle of material substance. Along with this, I suppose that within this element soar all the blessed spirits—the angels and Divine saints—who are themselves garbed in a kind of raiment made of that very same element. The covering of our soul (understand this word to refer also to the spirit, which is the soul of our human soul) is also made of this very same element. The soul itself is the immaterial spirit; but its covering is made from this ethereal immaterial element. Our bodies are coarse; but that covering of the soul is very fine and serves as the intermediary between the soul and body. Through it the soul acts on the body and the body on the soul. I am speaking of this only in passing, however. Just keep in mind that the soul has this very fine covering, and that our souls have the very same kind of covering as do all spirits. From this it will not be hard for you to conclude that this omnipresent element, very fine, out of which these coverings are made and in which all spirits soar, is the intermediary for the intermingling of our souls and these spirits.

Let us return again to the Divine saints. The element of which we are speaking is everywhere, and meets no obstacle to itself anywhere. Sunlight passes through glass; while the element can also pass through glass, it also permeates walls, the ground and everything else. Just as it is able to pass through everything, so are those who soar in it able to pass through everything, when that is necessary (just as the Savior passed through into the room when the Apostles were behind a locked door). They occupy a definite space, but when they are enjoined to do so or are permitted, they are immediately transferred to wherever it is necessary by means of the element, and not only do they meet no obstacles, they do not even see them. When necessary, they are transferred, but when it is not necessary, they stay in their own space and see in every direction what is there and what is happening there. When their eyes turn toward earth, that is, toward us sinners, they see us clearly, too. Not our coarse bodies, because that is not how they see us. Rather, they see our very souls, as they are. They do not see directly, but by means of the soul’s covering, which is like their own, and like the element in which they live, because the state of the soul is accurately reflected by its covering.

I am very glad you liked what I said about that element. Accept it, imprint it in your mind more firmly, and always keep it in your thought. You will see how it will help you in everything. How many things it explains, and how much comfort it gives! You have probably heard the question as to how the saints hear our prayers, and maybe you yourself have asked the same thing. In answer to this, there are explanations, and there are explanations—but the question still remains a question. In my own opinion, by supposing the existence of an element such as I described, how can the saints not hear our prayers? Do you know how the electric telegraph works? In St. Petersburg, for example, they start up a particular piece of equipment; in the same instant, that action in St. Petersburg is reflected in a similar piece of equipment in Moscow, and the very same motion occurs....

When true prayer that is, sincere prayer—moves in the soul, then that prayer, by means of the action of the element upon it, flies as if on a beam of light to the saints, and tells them what we want and what we are praying about. There is no gap between the time we make our prayer and when it is heard; the only necessity is that it come from our heart.

(Note: Bolding is as found in the book)
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